sharp fling the argumentes, youun the three points here, the three points here, the offense and the defense. i think something like that took place in this case. the president has not debated in four years. it was a wake-up call. i think he'll do better the next time, but i think it would be hard to do worst. >> schieffer: best hitters always have to take batting practice, and maybe he needed some batting practice. john, do you think mitt romney has gone to the etch a sketch here? is he still the conservative he was when he was running against rick santorum and some of those folks or did he actually move to the middle during this debate? >> certainly there was some rhetoric moving to the middle. but remember, mitt romney has one advantage with his conservative base-- his opponent is barack obama. and barack obama has already demonstrated through executive orders and all kinds of things that he will have a very activist second term. so regardless of what misgivings some people might have about mitt romney if you're a conservative, barack obama's second term would be a disaster. >> schieffer: